It’s been awhile since I served up a heaping chaffing dish of unsolicited advice for writers. Yeah, sure, everyone with a blog and the near sentience of a low-IQ squirrel can offer up wisdom for would-be-writers. But here’s the deal—I have been writing professionally since 1993. That’s (gulp) a quarter freaking century. I have probably published close to a million words if you count the books, the feature stories, reviews, comic book scripts, radio scripts, short stories and essays. And I have the war wounds to show for it. Along the way, I developed carpal tunnel (first 80,000 word book) and went from 20/20 vision to desperately seeking an ocular correction (second book; 140,000 words). But hell, it’s all in the name of the mighty word, right?

I’ve been teaching writing since 2001 and every day people ask for advice. So here are a few random thoughts, in random order, for any random people who might stumble upon this.

1. Read

It stuns me when young students mutter an apathetic proclamation of youth-induced hubris: “I don’t have time to read.”

Yes you do! I have interviewed so many musicians over the years, amazing creators, and they all listen to music constantly. All of them. And they listen all the time.

Could you imagine a film director who doesn't watch movies?

So read. Read anything. Novels. Short stories. Magazines. Newspapers. Graphic novels. Poetry. Just read. Through osmosis, you will become a far better writer.

2. Write. Write Something Everyday.

Stop it with the excuses and the “I don't have the time” or the “I’m tired” routine or the “I’m not feeling it” banter. Write in the notes app on your phone. Write a poem at a party. Blog. Write well-crafted emails. On good days, write your magnum opus.

Just write.

Even if it’s just 30-minutes a day. Every time you write, you learn and you grow.

3. Make a List of Words You Love

Anytime you read and land upon a word you like, write it down. Look up the definition and make a note of its usage. Save it. These words will become a part of your lexicon over time. Words are tools. Collect them. Store them away. Build your arsenal.

4. Finish Shit

Young writers start far too many things and finish far too few. This is why so many writers are good at beginnings and awful at endings. They don't practice the follow through. Keep your story starts and musings and come back to them when inspiration strikes. Then finish them

5. Jettison the Self-Doubt

There’s nothing worse than the neurotic, insecure writer. It’s boring and it gets you nowhere. Stop the whining and get your work done. Tell the shadowy nag of self-doubt to go lock itself in the port-a-potty at the gates of Hell.

6. Trust Your Subconscious

When we read and we write everyday, we train our subconscious in the art and craft of writing and storytelling. So trust your instincts. They are almost always right. As Ray Bradbury said, “Your subconscious is smarter than you are, so get out of its way.”

This means trust your first impulse with a piece of writing. Follow it through. Once done, then you can intellectualize, analyze, ponder and obsess.

7. Get an Agent

I have had the most remarkable agent for 17-years. She has always stood by me. She has always given me great advice. Sure, we have disagreed at times, as dynamic creative teams often and should do, but she has been my partner and she has negotiated for me and defended me and allowed me to focus on being creative. Thank you Judith Ehrlich!

Funny story: in 2001 while at the National Book Awards, Ray Bradbury handed my agent a beautiful, leather-bound edition of The Martian Chronicles. Inside, he had written, “GUARD SAM!”

Judith has done just this for almost two decades.

8. Don’t Self-Publish

Okay, there are exceptions here, but generally, don't do it. Self-publishing is a vanity project with poor distribution. How do you get your book into stores and into libraries? You don't. The neophytes all think their Facebook author page will result in a runaway indie-wildfire, and this has happened, but your odds are greater of getting gored by a great white shark.

Truthfully? Let's be honest. Self-published books often look self-published. Big houses don't want them for good reason. The pre-publication outlets (PW, Kirkus, Library Journal) won’t touch them either. Get your book in shape. Get an agent and shop it. Patience, grasshopper.

9. Stay Hungry

Be prepared to work your ass off. Never lose touch with your motivation. Never be above pounding the pavement. Stay humble and WORK.

10. Love it

If you don't love it, don't do it. You’ve got to want this. No one else will want it for you.

In early October, I delivered the keynote address at the Kansas Association of the Teachers of English Conference. I have been outspoken about the relatively recent willful political attempt to strip-mine public schools and public libraries of funding in order to cultivate an uniformed constituency (see this Chicago Tribunearticle).

Here’s the damn deal: censorship is going on right this very minute, right before our very eyes. It’s not happening vis-à-vis high-profile, ALA banned book lists or Hitlerean book burnings. Nope. That’s all way too obvious. Censorship is occurring in a much more inky and clandestine fashion, it is a creeping shadow that deemphasizes books, the word and the teachers who celebrate these monuments to power, knowledge and speech.

So I went to Wichita in October. And I knew right off that I was with my people. And I told them this. YOU ARE MY PEOPLE.

I often speak at comic book conventions and literary festivals to an assorted mélange of cosplay geeks, word-nerds, book-worms, collectors, furries, four-color weirdos and assorted genre freaks. -I get these pop-cultural urchins. I am one of them. But at the KATE conference, I was truly with my people. English teachers are the trench warriors on the front lines of education, facing the Trumpian mustard gases of fetid disinformation. Teachers yearn for an informed society.

The KATE conference was a joy. I met so many incredible teachers who believed in their students and their futures. These teachers were attending this conference to learn new pedagogical practices towards the teaching of English and creative writing. The excitement and commitment was palpable. I played nerdy literary games in a hotel suite until 2 am, alongside Jay Asher, author of 13 Reasons Why. Jay and I connected. He is a towering talent and a great guy. Maybe it was the cheap pizza, or the cardboard cookies, or the beer that ran out, but I think it’s much more. We both know how important English teachers are. We both believe in teachers and, yes, having spoken there often, we both love Kansas. And we both know that much of the secret to the future of education lies in that archaic remnant of the past. . . .

Super excited to deliver the keynote address tomorrow at the Roanoke Writers Conference in Roanoke, Texas. I am also conducting two seminars, one on the lessons of creativity I learned from the great Ray Bradbury, the other on overcoming self-doubt as a writer.

Cannot wait! If you are in the area, I hope you will come out and say hello!

Pretty darned amped to announce that I will be a guest of honor at the StokerCon 2018 at the historic Biltmore Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island (Hometown of H.P. Lovecraft) next March 1-4. More details soon, but I hope to run a Bradbury creative writing workshop while I am there. Click on the link for full deets and registration info. Come out and hang with me. Looking forward to seeing lots of friends.

I had a new short story published in Arcturus magazine a few months back and forgot to mention it here. This story will likely be in my forthcoming collection. At present there are 16 stories in this book, five of them are all-new, never before published. A couple are super-rare and ran in low-circulation print literary journals. Hopefully I'll have this all wrapped up by the end of this summer.

The Huffington Post just published my review of my favorite album of 2016, When We Were Kings, by Scott Sorry. This is a scorchingly loud punk record, if that sort of thing suits you! You can pick the disk up on iTunes.